


So Roll With It Why Don't You?

by NotARealGeek



Series: When Life Throws a Curveball [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Does the Marvel Timeline make sense to anyone?, F/M, Gen, Iron Man 2 and Thor happen at almost the same time, Ladies of Science, Male-Female Friendship, Prequel, So Darcy's life gets messy, anyone at all?, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 13:18:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13365519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotARealGeek/pseuds/NotARealGeek
Summary: Darcy had six science credits, really. The only issue was, they were under a different name. Dr. Ross knew what to do about it, and now she was in the middle of nowhere with a different scientist trying to hide her doctoral work, act like nothing more than a simple poly-sci student, and ignore whatever the hell is happening to her dad. Oh yeah, that's something she has to keep secret too. The fact that her father is Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man.It would be really nice if SHEILD would go away and leave her alone. Agent Arms was nice though.





	So Roll With It Why Don't You?

“What do you mean I need six science credits! I-” Darcy broke off, staring at the advisor blankly.

“Miss Lewis-”

“No, no, no. I understand what happened. What are my options?”

“Well, with no basic science courses, you could take a one hundred level of any of the sciences-”

“Out of the question, go on.”

“-Or an internship. Check the internship bulletin on the University website, and get back to me if you find anything. Otherwise, it’s two science courses next semester.”

Darcy sighed. “Thank you, Mr. Fortel.”

“See you next week, Miss Lewis.”

Darcy collected her notebook and left the office. She stomped her way down the stairs and across the rain-soaked quad to the bio-sci building. The receptionist looked up at her and nodded. “Hey, Darcy. Dr. Ross is in her office if you want to see her.”

Darcy started unbuttoning her coat. “Thanks, Marie. Have a good weekend!”

“You too!”

Darcy leaned up against the office door. “Hey, pretty lady, anyone taking you home tonight?”

Betty snorted and continued typing, “If it was anyone else, I would tell them to get lost. What’s up Darcy? How was the meeting?”

“It went very, very poorly.” Darcy slung her purse and coat onto the student chair and fell dramatically onto the couch. “You know that whole thing with ‘Maria Stark’ being your post-graduate student and ‘Darcy Lewis’ being a Poli-sci major?”

“Hmm.” Betty didn’t even look up. “Is it finally looking like that’s a bad idea?”

“Well...”

“Darcy.” Betty looked at her over the tops of her glasses. “What happened?”

“I don’t have enough science credits.”

“What.”

“When Jarv transferred my credits from MIT, he left out most of my credits so I could use them to apply for your grad student slot. But because I wanted that whole ‘real student experience’ I went into Political Science as an undergrad. So now, I have no science credits because re-taking the same courses seemed unbearably boring.”

“And you didn’t tell me this before because...”

“I didn’t remember?”

“Darcy.”

“I wanted to be normal! I thought, normal ‘really smart’ people might have taken an AP English course or history or something like that, and those credits would just be ignored. I knew that nobody would know about my grades or anything, so I could just... not say what I got on tests and maybe I would make a couple friends! And it worked! I have friends that think I’m a completely normal and usual person. Leia thinks I spend too much time in the Bio building, but they don’t really find it that weird. So I forgot! I wanted to be normal!”

“Your dad interviewed me for forty minutes before I even knew your name,” Betty pointed out, “And then I had lunch with his PA. Honey, normal is so very boring.”

“And so, so nice for a change.”

“You used to sneak in here after exams to work through boredom. I have seen you fixing my machines with bare feet- completely against lab protocol- while your nail polish dried and writing differential equations on napkins in diners because you were waiting for food. Do you really want Maria Stark and Darcy Lewis to be two separate people?”

Darcy swallowed past the lump in her throat. “No,” she choked out, “but I wanted to know who Darcy Lewis _was_.”

“Right. So now what? You’ve been the brilliant prodigy, you’ve been the air-head college student, you’ve figured some stuff out. What do you want to do? What does right now look like?”

Darcy tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Burgers at Jenny’s? With extra onions and a large milkshake.”

Betty shook her head. “You are so your father’s daughter, and I don’t even know your father. Let me pack up.”

“Score!”

 

It is scientifically proven that all neighborhoods surrounding a university have the following: one (1) very nice restaurant, up to ten (10) chain restaurants, two (2) thrift stores, one (1) very shitty House of (Blank) Pizza place, and at least one (1) good place to get a burger at one in the morning. Jenny’s was open twenty-four seven. The pair of them slid into a two-person booth in the corner at the window and shuffled off their coats. Betty turned up her coffee mug and looked expectantly at Darcy. She slouched further into her seat. “Betty, boss, proff, light of the biology department-”

“Regular or decaf?” The waitress stood there with a pad in her hand.

“Decaf for both of us, the usual for us as well, extra fries and a chocolate milkshake please.”

“You got it, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, Holly.” Betty leaned across the table. “Darcy. I don’t want you to tell me what your ten-year plan is. I don’t even want to know what your plan is for next year. As your friend I want you to take a leave. Do something fun, something wild, something Darcy Maria Lewis Stark would _absolutely_ die to do.”

“And as my thesis advisor?”

Betty spread her hands and shrugged. “You have all the data you can get from lab trials- more than any of my other students would have managed, thanks to your fine tuning of the machines. I don’t know what staying here at Culver will do for you. You could stay and teach some of my classes, but I have other students that want those positions. You’d be bored to death and getting the same results by the end of this term, let alone in another year. What you need to do is write and polish your thesis, which you can do from anywhere. Well, anywhere with internet, so you can send me updates.”

“So what should I do?”

Betty leaned back in. “I have a friend, Dr. Jane Foster. She runs a lab out in Puente Antiguo and I think she might still be looking for an intern-”

“An intern! I-”

“Would you listen? She’s an astrophysicist-” Darcy choked on her coffee, and started coughing. “I know, you aren’t very interested, but she was writing to me about Dr. Banner’s research on gamma radiation and how much atmospheric interference can affect the readings from space. I liked her writing, and we met for coffee while she was still in town at the university. She has a slot on her grant for an intern. And you, my dear, need a change of scenery.”

“To New Mexico? I could go to New York or California or-”

“New York or California won’t get you those credits. Take a look at the requirements and let me know.” Betty slid a small file folder over. “I printed it a couple days ago, just in case.”

“But _I_ didn’t even know that I was missing credits until today!”

“I honestly thought it would be a much harder sell. Jane needs you, Darcy, and you need a break. Go and bake in the desert, forget that you’re a Stark, fix some machines, have some _fun_ for a change.” Betty sat back to let Holly set plates down in front of them.

“My thesis advisor is advising me to have _fun_.” Darcy said to Holly, “I don’t know what this means for the state of the nation.”

“Probably that you should have some fun, darlin’. You want extra tartar sauce, Dr. Ross?”

“No thanks Holly, those are her fries. Darcy, you don’t need to decide now, the deadline is for June. The internship starts in July.”

“I don’t know...”

“Darcy, honey, you’re twenty. You are young, a little bit of a mess, and you don’t have it figured just yet. I hate to say it, as - well, me - but there’s more to life than going to university. You have a fake ID, go somewhere where nobody knows any better and see what happens. I do want you here, with me, but I want you as a fellow academic if possible. You know it’s hard for me, your course of study, but I do want you to succeed. Go to New Mexico. Meet Jane. What’s the worst that could happen? You get a sunburn?”

 

It wasn’t like there were many other options. Sure, she could take a science course, but Darcy _knew_ that any 100-level course would bore her to tears and bring down her average if she couldn’t focus. Which she wouldn’t be able too. Dr. Ross was right, she did need to stop lab tests and just write- but she could do that here or in Miami or New York with her father and Melody. If she went home or stayed here she would still need six science credits to finish her degree. An internship was the best of a bad lot as far as getting out of here and being on track for graduating were concerned. So she applied. To look good for her poor under-informed academic advisor, she applied to every science internship taking place in the next school year. JARVIS helped by making sure nobody who wasn’t Dr. Foster or Dr. Ross could see her applications, and gently shuffling aside a couple of applications from people who clearly just wanted to drink margaritas in the sun. Her second meeting with an advisor went much smoother when he saw she had applied for all of the internships available, and he left her to her classes.

Finals hit with a vengeance and Darcy hit back harder. The study groups she had tentatively put together at the beginning of the semester pulled together to get everyone through their classes and on the way to graduating. Her calls to her father and sister petered off as she threw herself into her papers and final exams. Betty found her on more than one morning, asleep on the couch in her office, face covered in post-it notes.

 

Jane was exactly as she looked in her staff photo, down to the three pens in her hair. A pen cap was clamped between her teeth as she scribbled something on a large piece of poster board. “I’m assuming that poster is supposed to say 'Darcy Lewis', Dr. Foster.”

Jane spat the pen cap into her hand. “Well, yes actually, how did you know?”  
“That’s me! Darcy Lewis, intern extraordinaire.”

“Oh!” Jane held out her hand with the spit covered pen, then looked at it and sighed. She shoved the large poster under her arm and held out a clean but slightly ink-stained hand. Darcy shook it with a grin. “It’s nice to meet you, Darcy. Can you drive?”

“And you as well, Dr. Foster. I can, why?”

“Do you have your luggage? Good. I need to finish these calculations, drive down the 25 until you hit Radium Springs. Should be a little less than three hours. Feel free to turn on the radio.” Jane tossed her the keys from her pocket and started writing and walking at the same time. Darcy caught them and tilted her head. _Oookay then._ The van they opened was beaten up to the max and stuffed with duct taped together machines. The air conditioning _looked_ broken. This was going to be a long trip out to the middle of nowhere.


End file.
